The Boys
The Boys is a song by Nicki Minaj and Cassie from the re-release of Minaj's second studio album called Pink Friday Roman Reloaded: The Re-Up. The song serves as the lead single of The Re-Up, fifth single overall. It was written by Jean Baptiste, Jonas Jeberg, Onika Maraj, and Anjulie Persaud, and it was produced by Jonas Jeberg and Jean Baptiste. The song premiered on the US radio station iHeartRadio on September 13, and as a digital download the same day. It officially impacted Rhythmic Radio on September 25, 2012. A music video was filmed on September 21, and premiered at VEVO on October 18, 2012. Background Minaj confirmed that she will release the lead single of her re-release album sometime in September at the VMA 2012 red carpet, on September 6: "I'm actually going to drop my new single like next week," she told E! News, on the VMA 2012 red carpet event.Nicki Minaj Readies ‘Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up’ for November. Retrieved September 6, 2012. On September 10, Minaj started a "Q&A time", using the hashtag "#TheReUp" (referring to the re-release album), which consist of fans asking question to Nicki about the re-release and the single (which she confirms that it will be released "this week", meaning September 10 to September 17).Twitter: Ok hashtag is #TheReUp (the re-release album that drops in Nov) Single drops this week! Wuddup barbz? Shoot! Q&A time!!!!!!! Retrieved September 10, 2012. In the Q&A time, many fans ask about the new single. With this, Minaj confirmed the name of the song ("The Boys"),Twitter: 'The Boys' > RT @_SupremeXxX: RT @I_ROMANZOLANSKI: RT @TeamMinajBXTCH: RT @Philly____: @NICKIMINAJ what's the name of the single ? #TheReUp Retrieved September 10, 2012. a video being shot for the single, Twitter: Yup! > RT @trillxgod: @NICKIMINAJ #theReUp is a video being shot for the single you're releasing? Retrieved September 10, 2012. in which format the single will be released (digital download from Itunes),Twitter: Itunes > RT @CamOnACone: How do you plan on releasing the new single? @NICKIMINAJ #TheReUp Retrieved September 10, 2012. and that the song features a female artist.Twitter: There's a female on 1st single! > RT @SUPERBADDBARB: #TheReUp are we gettin female features for the new album @NICKIMINAJ !?!?!? Retrieved September 10, 2012. A day later, Minaj tweeted "Thursday" which is believed to be the release date of the single.Twitter: Thursday Retrieved September 12, 2012. The song was released on September 13, 2012, as a digital download from Itunes.Twitter: Nicki Minaj ft. Cassie "The Boys" on itunes http://itunes.apple.umrg.com/us/album/boys-explicit-version-single/id561925704?ls=1 … EXPLICIT Retrieved September 13, 2012. It also premiere the same day on US radio station iHeartRadio.Digital Spy Nicki Minaj debuts new single 'The Boys' - listen Retrieved September 13, 2012. It was officially released at Rhythmic radio on September 25, 2012,FMQB: radio releases Retrieved September 18, 2012. and was the most added song on rhythmic radio the week of its release.Twitter: Thank you for making "the boys" the #1 added song on rhythmic radio this week!!!!! Retrieved October 19, 2012. Cassie commented that "It was great working with Nicki on the song. We actually had been trying to get together for a while; we did a record together I want to say maybe two-and-a-half years before this, and it obviously didn't get any play. It was for my album, which I've been working on for years," she laughed in an interview with MTV News the week of October 14.Nicki Minaj And Cassie 'Boys' Duet Was 'Long Overdue' Retrieved October 22, 2012. "It was kind of long overdue; we had been talking about it for a while, so it was nice to get together and finally do something, and to also have a visual to it," she said, and also said that she's honored to be included on The Re-Up: "She's always got amazing records out, so to be a part of that is really exciting." Cassie's reused demo The vocals of Cassie are from her second single "Money On Love" (from her sophomore album) which was leaked as a demo and was never officially released.Cassie previews second single “Money On Love” Retrieved September 16, 2012. The demo is exactly the same as "The Boys," with the only difference being Nicki Minaj vocals and some missing parts of Cassie."Money On Love" demo Retrieved September 16, 2012. Composition The Boys is a hip hop and pop song produced by Jonas Jeberg, and co-produced by Jean Baptiste,Nicki Minaj ft. Cassie - The Boys - Listen Retrieved September 15, 2012. and it was written by Jean Baptiste, Jonas Jeberg, Onika Maraj, and Anjulie Persaud.The Boys - Nicki Minaj | AllMusic.com Retrieved September 30, 2012. It features a mix of synth swoops, syncopated percussion and gurgling acoustic-guitar arpeggios by Jeberg and Baptiste. It also has a throbbing beat, harsh basslines and hyperactive breaks.Nicki Minaj takes 'The Boys' to task in new single Retrieved September 15, 2012. Cassie's parts are backed up by a guitar line.The Singles Bar: Nicki Minaj featuring Cassie, “The Boys” Retrieved September 15, 2012. The song is about a pithy kiss-off to men who try to buy love with money and jewels. Critical reception The song received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Gerrick D. Kennedy from LA Times commented that Minaj has "married the two styles" of rap and pop. Kennedy also said that the song "begs for immediate radio play" and called it a "fresh reminder of the Minaj tracks her rap fans love." Nate Jones from Popdust gave the song four out of five stars to the song and said that the song is "catchy as hell, but with enough 'credibility'." Rick Florino from ARTISTdirect gave the song a very positive review, giving it five out of five stars and called it "one of Minaj's best tracks yet and a landmark song for 2012."Nicki Minaj "The Boys" Song Review — 5 out of 5 Stars Retrieved September 15, 2012. He thanked Minaj for "changing the game again" and ensured that "the barbz are gonna freak on this one." Robbie Daw from Idolator said that the song "probably won't shake out as being the most memorable entry into Nicki's canon of jams."Nicki Minaj & Cassie’s “The Boys”: Listen To The ‘Roman Reloaded: The Re-Up’ Single Retrieved September 18, 2012. Music video Stills 674021003.jpg 674021315.jpg Q7600xDm7N.jpg Q7ko-ktZK0.jpg The Boys video - Nicki Minaj.png Nicki-minaj-cassie-the-boys article story main.jpg EvIH4AGA.png Q75tZDjUIh.jpg Q7-dCfmIUX.jpg|Cassie in the video. Background Minaj confirmed that a video was planned for the song during the "Q&A time" of The Re-Up. The film of the video took place on September 21, 2012,Twitter: At my shoot... Retrieved September 22, 2012. at Los Angeles, CA,VIMEO: NICKI MINAJ - BEHIND THE SCENES OF "THE BOYS" MUSIC VIDEO Retrieved October 3, 2012. by Colin Tilley who also shot the I Am Your Leader music video. On October 3, Nicki released a Behind the Scenes footage of her upcoming video. Twitter: Here it is barbz!!! behind the scenes of "The boys"!! https://vimeo.com/50714037 Retrieved October 3, 2012. A still image from the video was released October 10 on Nicki's twitter account, which was deleted later. It shows her in a pink and blue wig. On October 18, it was revealed that the video will be released the same day at 12:00 PM EST.Twitter: #TheBoysVideo | 12pm EST | 11am CT | 9am PT | 5pm UK - http://vevo.com Retrieved October 18, 2012. Minaj confirmed this about an hour later.Twitter: #TheBoysVideo premieres on VEVO in 27mins!!!!!!!!!!!!! Retrieved October 17, 2012. The video premiered on VEVO on October 18, 2012 at 12:00 PM EST.Twitter: #VEVOPremiere: @NICKIMINAJ drops another candy-colored fantasy ride for the #Barbz in #TheBoysVideo ft @CassieSuper! http://vevo.ly/RFEOJm Retrieved October 17, 2012. Cassie talked about the video with MTV News: "The concept of the video was definitely a collaboration. I've known director Colin Tilley for a really long time, but I hadn't got to work with him yet, so this was our first time," she said. "He really wants to hear the artists' input and wants to know what we want to do to make the video great. So he came to us with the treatment of us being in a Barbie world, and I wanted to put my little flavor on it, so I was like, 'What if I was Ken?' So Nicki loved the idea, and that's where that stemmed from." She also explained that her inspiration "behind the look in the blue suit and the graffiti top was 'Ken on steroids.' Or 'Ken inspired by East London punk,'" ''Behind the Scenes'' Minaj told her fans, on October 3, that she will release a behind the scenes footage from her music video, "The Boys", on that same day.Twitter: I think I'm gna upload bts footage from "the boys" vid shoot today Retrieved October 3, 2012. Some hours later, she posted a video on her Twitter with the behind the scenes footage. The video shows a well-dressed Nicki with yellow hair, a "gangster" hat, orange pants and a green jacket walking at a pink, green and purple street accompanied by a group of hunk men with pink suites wearing pink umbrellas. It also features Nicki talking about the "fabulous" video stage and she riding a car with pink dices. the boys video.jpg The_boys_video_2.jpg The_boys_behind_the_scenes.png Live performances "The Boys" was performed live in the Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour. Credits Recording: *Recorded at: Studio Malibu, Malibu CA & JONAS MOBILE STUDIO AND JEBERG STUDIOS, COPENHAGEN *Mixed at: Studio Malibu, Malibu CA *Mastered at: Chris Athens Masters, Austin TX Personnel: *Writers: Onika Maraj, Jonas Jeberg, Jean Baptiste, Anjulie Persaud *Producers: Jonas Jeberg *Co-producers: Jean Baptiste *Recorded by: Ariel Chobaz, Jonas Jeberg, Kuk Harrell & Josh Gudwin *Mixed by: Ariel Chobaz & Jonas Jeberg *Mastered by: Chris Athens *All Instruments & Programming by: Jonas Jeberg *Additional Vocal Production by: Kuk Harrell The credits for "The Boys" are adapted from the liner notes of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up.Digital booklet of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded Charts Release history Lyrics Explicit version Clean version References }} Category:Songs Category:Minaj songs featuring others Category:Singles Category:Videos Category:2012 Category:Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up